Incident seen as conspiracy

Iran's newspapers ended a fortnight's enforced silence on the 15 detained UK naval personnel yesterday by depicting the affair as a dark conspiracy hatched by London, with many denouncing the British and some saying the sailors and marines had been sent into Iranian waters to stoke a conflict aimed at isolating the country.

The tightly state-monitored dailies were publishing for the first time since before the national new year holiday.

The usually moderate Etemade Melli accused the Blair government of devising a "pre-planned scenario" to protect the Labour party from an electoral backlash caused by British public opposition to the Iraq war. "Britain was well aware that such an incursion by its military forces would provoke a reaction from Tehran," the paper wrote. "The existence of hi-tech satellite navigation equipment eliminates the possibility of negligence or error on the part of the British. London has been prepared to pay the price of the arrest ... to perform its pre-planned scenario."

Kayhan, a fundamentalist daily often seen as reflecting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's views, dismissed an "accidental" straying of the personnel, saying the outcome could have a strong impact on Iran's political, diplomatic and security concerns.

Hamshari, Iran's biggest-selling daily, reported that the British sailors had "dismissed London's claims" that they were in Iraqi waters when arrested.